Thread: Surrely I'm not the only one.

Originally Posted by SRNewb

My pocket knives are as sharp as I can possibly get them. And I keep them that way. I use a strop on them often. A dull knife, unless it's a butter knife, has no purpose or use. MHO.

There are 2 schools of thought on this.
Most of us get max 'sharpness' before stropping but some would use pasted strops to also sharpen a razor.
For me stropping a razor is about 99% comfort & 1% sharpness

For me, yes and no. I think that stropping, strictly speaking of razors, refines the edge, so yes, it's about comfort. But in my experience of honing my own razor, that refinement results in a much sharper edge than coming straight from the stone. And stropping also straightens out or realigns the edge after it has been microscopically bent in use, lining that sharp edge back up so it can be better used. So it is also about sharpness, or more correctly, maintaining the sharpness of an edge.The same purpose a honing steel is used for in the kitchen.

Stropping knives is extremely helpful. I have six strops of various materials with various coatings for use on my EDC knives and only one for my razors. Even after going to an 8K grit stone on knives, the strops can make quite a difference. Check any knife forum.

Originally Posted by SRNewb

For me, yes and no. I think that stropping, strictly speaking of razors, refines the edge, so yes, it's about comfort. But in my experience of honing my own razor, that refinement results in a much sharper edge than coming straight from the stone. And stropping also straightens out or realigns the edge after it has been microscopically bent in use, lining that sharp edge back up so it can be better used. So it is also about sharpness, or more correctly, maintaining the sharpness of an edge.The same purpose a honing steel is used for in the kitchen.

I agree except on the degree of sharpness. I just don't find the strop makes a big difference.
One of those YMMV things.

It's something to do, Man!

Originally Posted by Christel

Apparently you are the only one!

I don’t want to sound mean but what advantage is there to stropping a pocket knife?

It can depend on what edge geometry your going for .
I like to keep a lot of my knives with a convex edge , imo this can only be achieved with stropping .
I keep a toothy edge on my working knives , fancy ones get the strop .

I've been able to get some of my knives to "hair whittling" sharp with nothing more acute than a 60 degree inclusive edge. That means that they are either shaving sharp or close to it and yet have the stability and durability that a 60 degree inclusive edge can provide. An 8K stone will get you close to that, but a few laps on diamond spray on Kangaroo leather (metal backed) can make all the difference.

Originally Posted by Wayne1963

I use my SRD's strop to keep my pocketknife sharp....anyone else use their strop for the same?

Yep; I've done that since I was a kid, and use my one and only strop today for both razors and pocket knives, whenever the latter have a blade that needs to be razor sharp.

Unless they have a damaged edge, my razors never touch a stone, being maintained with the (untreated) canvas and leather parts of my Illinois 361 stop.

Practice makes perfect.

I live in town now. I don't need a pocket knife that holds its edge. I have other knives that do that.

So, my edc was given a new bevel, and i honed that sucker to find out how far I could take it. When I was done, yeah I stropped it. And then did one pass on the face for kicks. The thing is kick donkey sharp and its a fun novelty!!

People ewe and awe when they use it. I don't tell them that after they use it the edge will probably be destroyed lol! But that's the thing - in town, I have the ability to hone it after every use if I want andif that includes stropping, so be it. Its a toy, and I enjoy honing. So there you go lol.

Stropping a knife on leather is old school. 99% of people don't need to. But, if you know what you wan out of your knife, and it works... The most important thing is knowing why.

A guy I work with has a SRD strop for the sole purpose of knives. He shaves with disposable.